Naked Preacher

 Paradigm Shift

A paradigm shift is defined as “a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions”.  The church has had to face a paradigm shift on more than one occasion.  Sometimes we have labeled things as “paradigm shifts” which were in reality only minor adjustments in taste or style. I was once approached by a lady after morning service who told me, “You should always dress like a preacher.”  At the time I had a rotation of three styles of dress for Sunday morning. On the first Sunday I wore a suit and tie, on the second I wore a button down and dress slacks, and on the third I wore a golf shirt and casual slacks or nice jeans.  No matter what I said I was only a preacher in her eyes when I wore a suit and tie.

I responded by saying something to the effect of, “What I wear doesn’t really make a difference in what I say.”  I wanted to say, “Should I wear a tux-like outfit from the 1800’s or robes like Luther?  Maybe I should wear a simple robe like Jesus or a camel-fur, short tunic like John the Baptist?  Bet you would like it if I was naked for three years like Isaiah.”  But I held my peace and let it go.  When we talk about a paradigm shift we are not talking about minor, stylistic changes.

The seeker sensitive, church movement was not so much a paradigm shift as a redirecting or attention to taste and style.  Both traditional and contemporary churches based their worship format and musical style on the wants and wishes of those they wanted in the pews.  One proponent of contemporary worship said, “If the music your audience listens to Monday to Saturday is different from the music they have on Sunday morning, you need to change your music.”  Advocates of traditional music and worship styles used the same argument except in the opposite direction, “We like the old hymns.”   The worship wars that were fought in the American church were essentially fights for artistic preferences.  How Satan rejoiced at our fighting.

An example of a paradigm shift happened in Acts 2.  Until that time, the Spirit of God was held to be in the Holy of Holies.  Before the Ark of the Covenant was lost, His Spirit resided on the mercy seat between the cherubim.   On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit’s residence becomes the people of God.  In Acts 2:38 we read, Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”  This was “a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions”.  This changed everything.  

Over the last 2000 years of church history there have been some events that have resulted in a fundamental change in approach or underlying assumptions over the way we do church.  Certainly nothing so dramatic as what we see in Acts 2.  But from time to time there are major changes that require the church to look carefully at how it does ministry and ask, “Have we built something that is extra-Biblical and may need to be reexamined and possibly removed?”  Ironically, this has happened on a schedule of every 400 to 500 years.  Guess what the last one was; the Protestant Reformation circa 1517.

Next week:  The guy from Hippo and the big fall.